Hot News re Advisor Feedback Seminars

[knight]

Hi, normally the wife who posts on here. Did 2 measures this morning, both saying they had been told by who ever took the appointment that the cost would be£99. This would'nt be so bad if they told them it was clouds only but they seem to think its anything in the book and when they pick a 7 and comes out £586. The customer says i was told it was only £99. Wasting there time and ours.

I think a lot of problems we have are from the call centre staff saying things like the above and they said i can have 20% off because the last advisor never uturned up. I think it would be better if they said we cant give you a price because it depends on the fabric you choose. I think we have and many of you as well have had this happen too many times in the last year.

And one final point spoke to an Fsm before Christmas about first delivery in the new year was assured it would,nt be till Friday the 13th. Was out last Friday not expecting any delivery at all. Pulls on the drive to find blinds had been left by the side gate for all to see with no cars on the drive. Its not the drivers fault but a fact like first delivery they should get right.

Overall i hope the meetings go well and we can start working together and be more organized.
This must have been a good self empolyed job once upon a time, now that sounds like i am going to tell you a story lets hope this is a being of a good chapter.

[ashwater]

I agree with alot of what you say here and will offer further input later. Your personal point on Brand Image i agree with but would suggest that when leads are scarce and phones at H/O are quiet then and only then should the 3 for 99 raise its ugly head for a very short time period AND WITH NO FREE FITTING! In small print it could say £10/£15 fitting charge per blind or £30 fitting charge for the order.
On the point of D.O.Rs we should get some payment from Hillarys for our time and costs as these are no fault of ours and reduces our availability reducing further our income.

[amberley]

Hi Russell
Sorry if you've misunderstood me - I'm not accusing you or any of the attendees of being company men - the point I was trying to make (not very well obviously) was that I think it would have been better if we as a forum had been asked to put forward our representatives (and I'm sure you would have been one) rather than have them selected which unless they are members of this forum means they have no actual mandate to put forward our collective views.
So lets all do our best to give you and other forum members the ammunition to act on our behalf as I know you will
All the best
Amberley

[lesroman]

HI

first time that i have logged on to this forum. I have not been hiding, just unaware and not very well versed in the use of post its.

I am advisor Romanch ( where do they get the names). Real name Les. I am a full time agent with the company for 3 years and work an ave of 65hrs a week. I tell u all this because I am one of the (un)lucky ones to be attending the north meeting.

Most of the comments that I have read tonight have to be agreed with. My feeling is that we need to look backwards only to get solutions to the future not answers to previous probs.

The biggest problem for me other than levels of DOR's is being told one dept or another is looking after this or that and then they dont. I.E. when fitting dates came along we were told that if production could not meet them then HQ would contact customer. of course 1st time we find out they havent is when customer phones us to ask are we still comming. I dont have time to sort out customers, we are paid to sell and fit. This may seem narrow minded but i need to inform HQ of any probs DOR etc and then get on with the other 10 - 12 appts a day. HQ should be trusted to sort out.
Coms lines in the main are fine its when probs are not resolved at the 1st attempt and we end up with dor;s being dor.

The single biggest step for me would be the ability to have a team at HQ who look after 2nd time faults.

Thats enough for now... now how do I send this

[Augustus]

Les - you did just fine !!!

If you do get the time please post in eac hsection so we can get your views.

I'll be at the Leeds meeting too, so it will be nice to meet you.

P.

[greenpesto]

Who is looking after item 2. 'Top 10 ideas' please so I can PM them?

In fact can you let me know who to contact on other items?
Thanks!

[Augustus]

RED , but you can always post them in that section, so we can all see if we are signing from the same hyme sheet.

P.

[Augustus]

amberley said:

Hi Russell
Sorry if you've misunderstood me - I'm not accusing you or any of the attendees of being company men - the point I was trying to make (not very well obviously) was that I think it would have been better if we as a forum had been asked to put forward our representatives (and I'm sure you would have been one) rather than have them selected which unless they are members of this forum means they have no actual mandate to put forward our collective views.
So lets all do our best to give you and other forum members the ammunition to act on our behalf as I know you will
All the best
Amberley

Hi Amberley,

My guess is that I've only been invited due to setting this forum up. I'm sure there are plenty of other advisors with more years behind them.

I've been with Hillarys for 8 years now, SAM user from day one. I've been on both con roof and awning courses.
Sell and fit around £15-£20k a month.

But with this said - I'm still learning everyday and am open to new ideas of how to make the most out of this job.

Lets see if we all can.


P.

[McCartney]

Hi,
This is our first posting, despite having first logged on back in August. We have been reading avidly all the postings and comments.
Whilst not agreeing with most of it, we do concur with a lot that has been said.
We are a husband and wife team and have been advisors now for some years.
One of us has been invited to the seminar next week, and HE will be attending, HE wouldn't miss it for the world.
We are putting together our comments and ideas.
McCartney

[russell]

reading previous posts and receiving a fair few emails am getting some nice input on ALL AREAS before the actual meet day we will have time to exchange views but more importantly we will all have our say on all subjects so it wont be a collection of one persons view informed by the input they receive which i think is inportant as all 12 of us will have the opportunity to have a say on each subject i have a big interest in item 6 and so will put more effort into that so we get a even spread but make no mistake those participating and those not i am not happy with give give give from us and take take from them that said i love my job and love sams and diary booking they are not without fault but are a massive way forward properly used i am looking forward to meeting the other 12 and hopefully MAKING A DIFFERANCE for the good of hillarys and us

[hereticus]

This posting is really directed at the 23 agents attending the seminars plus those such as Red and Joy who are helping to pull together information for input to the discussions, but I am posting on open forum so that everyone is free to read and comment if you wish.

The first seminar is now only a matter of days away and, whilst still hoping for a lot more input, we now also need to focus on analysing and presenting the information and suggestions already received, so these are some of my thoughts on how we might progress from here.

Firstly it is clear that the top ten frustrations will be the heaviest subject so, in analysing these, I will try to focus on things which are currently negative and need to be sorted out. However, there are a lot more than ten so I will identify those which can be given a positive spin and presented amongst the top ten ideas instead. For example, some advisors have mentioned aspects of the commission / incentive system but, rather than saying we want more money under the top ten frustrations we can propose a review of the commission structure under the top ten ideas. This way we can get more of our points over.

I would also suggest that we try to group thoughts together under a single topic. For example, Red has been doing some great work on ideas for SAM development and this is a very important subject, but we can present his findings under the subject heading ‘make SAM more user friendly’ as just one of our top ten ideas and then hand over the list of specifics as sub-points to the idea. Doing it this way will get us a lot more mileage out of the agenda, so would all those compiling information please try to follow a similar approach.

Can I ask Motters to post a definitive list of who is co-ordinating what (Yep, I’ve lost track as well). Then, for example, if I identify a potential ‘frustration’ that might slot in better as an ‘idea’ I can pass this over to right person. I would also suggest that we all aim to complete our preliminary analysis during Saturday, then swap and feed thoughts to different agenda areas as suggested here between ourselves on Sunday, and then finalise and post our ‘final analysis / proposed meeting brief’ against each agenda section on Sunday evening, for further comment from advisors during Monday.

I have also spoken to Ross Kenney today and arranged for a laptop (either a spare, or one of theirs configured to guest mode), plus a printer, and an LCD screen, to be available to us at both seminars. My thinking behind this is partly that some of the agents attending may not have been on this forum so we will need to introduce ourselves and bring them up to speed quickly, which may result in some additions or changes in presentation of our thoughts so that we get the majority on board and present a united front – so the ability to edit our documents at the venue, and to print off copies as handouts for everybody, will be an asset. The LCD screen will allow us to project points during the meeting (if we so choose) – I’m not suggesting fancy Powerpoint presentations but even a simple ‘Word’ document listing points we want to discuss can be projected onto screen. To make best use of these facilities I would suggest that you bring any data or documents for the meeting by saving to a USB Memory Stick (quite cheap and easily available) or email to me and I’ll save them on mine (for the Southern meeting)

Finally, just in case anybody reads this and thinks we are in the final phase – not true ! We do now need to start organising the work already done in preparation for the first meeting, but there is a second bite at the cherry with the Northern meeting a week later, the content of which can include further comments and thoughts, and the emphasis of which can be guided by the feedback from those of us at the first meeting so – EVERYBODY PLEASE KEEP POSTING !

[russell]

mike i hope we will all be having a chance for our say i dont want the show being chanelled by one person taking the floor as i am told we will all have chance for our views i dont want a set agenda if we have that there will be no two way communication and the responce may be its not on the agenda whilst i agree we need organising prior too the event i dont want to turn up and find our responses are prepared and already passed on for perusal by h\o this may have some merit of preperation but i would like a bit of open discusion dont take this the wrong way though what im trying to say is if i hear a view from us i dissagree with i want the option to enter into free debate not to be told sorry its been decided hope im not sounding militant ;D

[hereticus]

Russell - comments noted and quite understand how you could have read my message as having that implication, but no worries - let me clarify.

I am but one of 11 advisors at the Reading meeting. We will all be there to express our views. Nobody will be taking the floor to represent the others, and nobody will be 'mugged' by the majority. Nor will we be trying to organise a 'professional presentation' of any sort.

However, the members of this forum have taken a lot of trouble and effort to pool their thinking so that we can put over properly representative views, so it is only right that we organise those views as best we can, and share that information between ourselves and with the other delegates who are not yet on this forum.

Also, the meetings are not long enough for every topic to be discussed exhaustively - we could easily get bogged down - so on some of the subjects we might be better to have a general discussion and then hand over a document listing detailed points, whilst extracting a promise of feedback.

I am not trying in any way to orchestrate the proceedings or to influence anyone's input - I am simply trying to apply a logistical approach to assembling what we have already achieved.

[greenpesto]

I would be interested in McCartneys elaboration on the comment that they 'Disagree with most of our comments'since joining back in August '05. Have you NOT experienced the same problems as the rest of us?
Are you FREE of DOR's, Poor product quality, Drop in income, Poor support from your FSM, Late commission payments & the 'General nonsense' that we are getting from Hillarys these days?
If you disagree so much perhaps we could have some insight as to what you are to say at the 'meeting'.
This is not a 'dig' but just VERY curious!!!!!

[plymouth]

Hi all new to the site.Advisor 4 ..5 yrs been some changes interesting comments though this xmas has been the worse time for us foot soldiers 3 for 99 16 calls a day 4 eves not poss. but things will have to change or we will all be stuffed, just maybe we will have a voice that gets listened to or am i being stupid.?and things will carry on down the pan.to many probs to air at the mo, i always wanted letters after my name. now i have them d.o.r. c yyou all soon(jobcentre) ha